Growing up the caretaker of a difficult mother, Mara Solomon always felt compelled to help people.

So when her neighbor needed a ride to the police station, Mara took off from her job as a musicologist at Emory University to drive her. She had no idea that she'd be taking on a murder case.

Her friend, Lynn Adastra has been brutally mangled, her body left to rot in the South River. The only clue to the motive seems to be a piece of music, scrawled by Adastra before her death. The police have no idea what to make of that.